Valdis Valters (born August 4, 1957) is a retired Latvian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...

position for the senior USSR national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest players to have played the game in Europe in the 1980s. Considering his lengthy work and deep connection to the sport, Valters has been one of the most influential people in Latvian basketball history. He became a FIBA Hall of Fame player in 2017.

Club career

Valters spent most of his club career playing with the Latvian club VEF Rīga. In 1982, he set the USSR Premier League's all-time record for points scored in a single game, when he scored 69 points against Dynamo Moscow.

National team career

Soviet national team

Valters first made his name in European basketball when he was named the MVP of EuroBasket 1981, after he averaged 16.7 points per game, to lead his USSR national team to the gold medal. He was also on the All-Tournament Team of EuroBasket 1985. Valters also played a key role on the USSR national team that won the gold at the 1982 FIBA World Championship, in Colombia, where he was a starting

, and averaged 14.0 points per game. At the 1986 FIBA World Championship, Valters helped the Soviet Union to rally from a nine-point deficit, in the final minute of the game, by hitting a three-pointer at the end of regulation, to send the semifinal game against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

to overtime, and eventually earn a 91–90 win.

Latvian national team

In 1992, after he had stopped playing basketball at the pro level, Valters returned to the court, and represented the senior Latvian national team at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games Qualifying Tournament.

Coaching career

After his basketball playing career ended, Valters also worked as a

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

. He founded his own basketball school, the Valtera Basketbola Skola (VBS), now known as Keizarmezs, whose alumni includes former NBA player

Andris Biedriņš Andris Biedriņš (; born April 2, 1986) is a Latvian former professional basketball player. He was drafted by the Golden State Warriors with the 11th overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft. Professional career Skonto (2002–2004) Biedriņš's p ...

, as well as other top Latvian players. He also helped to create the basketball league for Latvian youth players, the LJBL.

Other works

In 2013, Valters released his autobiographical book, called "Dumpinieks ar ideāliem" (''Rebel with ideals''). He is currently working as an analyst for the Latvian TV channel, TV6, as a host of the weekly sports show Overtime.

Personal life

Both of his sons,

Kristaps Kristaps is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the German name Christoph and may refer to: * Kristaps Blanks (born 1986), Latvian football striker * Kristaps Dārgais (born 1990), Latvian basketball player * Kristaps Grebis (born ...

and Sandis, are also professional basketball players.

References

External links

FIBA ProfileFIBA Hall of Fame Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valters, Valdis 1957 births Living people BK VEF Rīga players FIBA EuroBasket-winning players FIBA Hall of Fame inductees FIBA World Championship-winning players Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Latvian basketball coaches Latvian men's basketball players Point guards Soviet men's basketball players Basketball players from Riga 1982 FIBA World Championship players 1986 FIBA World Championship players